Saturday Shares (At the end of Election week)

What a week. I am here on this bright Saturday morning (thank you Daylight Savings) still catching my breath from all that has ensued. Last Sunday night we wrapped up a heart wrenching run of The Diary of Anne Frank. I watched every night for a week as our high school boys with swastikas on their arms come in with fake guns pointed at the Jewish family in hiding on our makeshift stage. Every night I wept with the reality that we live in a world that humans can be treated with such hatred. Every night I walked away from our student’s performance with a renewed conviction to choose love and walk in truth.

The night came sooner each day this week. The dark comes well before the day is done, we aren’t even to dinner before lights are turned on and candles lit. I fight the desire to climb into bed at six pm and linger a little in the anticipation toward Christmas that these short days bring.

Tuesday we woke early to analyze and pray over our ballots one last time before heading to the polls that afternoon. We waited with breath held to see what this community would choose, who this nation would elect. I watched people as the results were released and commentaries were made. I watched them erupt with a myriad of emotion. I clenched my jaw as dissension and anger reigned.

I’ve avoided the internet lately, fed up with the harsh words and unnecessary slander. But a few things surfaced these past few weeks that worth mulling over as we contemplate the next stage of our journey, political and otherwise.

Online links worth a read:

Meditation for Election Day by Addie Zierman “Cast your ballot into the box like bread upon the waters with all the faith you can muster. Whatever happens today, God will still be Love, and your work will still be this – to love your neighbor. To work toward reconciling this broken, fractured world with the unending grace of God.”

Truth + Love by Jamie and Aaron Ivey “We love both the Word of God AND the LGBTQ community. We believe that the best way to love BOTH is not to condone or encourage people to pursue their innate desires, but to point all of us to a better way – the way of Jesus. That is, dying to self and trusting Him with everything.”

In Times Like These, Plant a Tree by Christie Purifoy “Controversies may swirl and bullets may fly (both metaphorical and all too real), but we are not afraid. We are not dismayed.We are too busy planting and tending trees.”

The Lay of the Land by Erin Loechner “Do we want America to be great again? Sure. Do we want America to be kind again? Sure. But that’s not America’s job. It’s ours.”

This is the Guaranteed Outcome of the Election by Michael Wear “We do not ignore the real consequences that the outcome of this election will have on our well-being and that of our neighbors, our country and the world. We can even care deeply about the outcome. But let us not live as though we have no Shepherd.”

From my heart:

This Week: How to Make the Dark Days Light for Seasoned With Salt “Maybe this is how we’ll make it through this darkness.With every gesture of love, every kind word, every sweet favor, every warm touch, every extended gift, the light begins to come on.”

One Year Ago: Celebrate Life“I think Jesus caught a vision as He hung on the cross. A vision of His people celebrating life. A people who would pull out balloons on the most ordinary of days and rejoice in the beauty that they saw.”

Two Years Ago: Reading in Order to Write“In a world hungry and aching to be filled we have the opportunity to give substance, meaning, and depth. We have life to speak, words of vitality to write. The more we immerse ourselves in His truth, the more significant the words that we speak become.”

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I'm Greer, a lover of authentic words and strong coffee. Let's take a minute to share our stories without our nice pretenses or tough walls. Let's be real. Let's become whole and holy, the best version of the women God has created us to be.

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